Search through our articles

Made in Britain

Worried about exports?

With news from The Ferret that at least 28 firms from Scotland are due to attend an arms fair in London dubbed a “festival of violence” – including a US arms giant with a factory in Fife that’s been linked to alleged war crimes in Yemen, here’s a new film from Save the Children…

The Fife Free Press launched a Readers’ Charter in May which commits them “to serving you with the whole truth”, although mention of the Raytheon Paveway bomb-Yemeni civilian casualties link has apparently not surfaced since. Interestingly, their accompanying text elaborates on “our commitment” as meaning “to our readers and advertisers to always put them first”.

So I guess if you are an advertiser, your interests are protected. And no conflict, let alone tension, between the interests of readers and advertisers are apparently envisaged.

The charter launch was branded as part of the fight against Fake News, which seems less of problem than failing to report the kinds of public interest stories (say, unethical conduct) that the Editor’s Code might be supposed to protect. Perhaps we need a comprehensive and historically-informed debate about the ethics of bombing children.